Vila, vida e mercado: Sao Luiz do Paraitinga, 1800-1820

Abstract

The aim of this work was to analyse the way of living in small villages, its activities and strategies of survival. The researched city was SãoLuís do Paraitinga, in Vale do Paraíba, from de year 1800 to 1820. The documenting corpus used was: Noun Lists (in portuguese Listas Nominativas or Maços de População), proceeding of town-council and post-mortem inventories. It was possible to verify how important was the regional market to the survival of the villages, even of those, as SãoLuís, that were located so distant from the trade centers. The village as other of the region presented an agriculture characterised by the policulture, having as the most important production tobacco, lards and alive pigs. This kind of production was disseminated among all the agriculturists, even the poor ones. Some historical subjects were followed. It was possible to observe their staying and changestas the living from sugar to lards, and from this one to alive pigs. On the other hand, it was possible to verify the importance of credits and financing in the economy of the village, to notice the changes built in the village as a territory from the experiences and way of living shared by its free and slave, man and woman, inhabitants